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阅读理解
The greatest wonders of the ancient world art are usually hard to miss. For example, you can't walk past Egypt's pyramids without noticing them. They' re right in your face. But not the Nazca Lines in southern Peru.
These ancient drawings don't rise before you on huge stones. They' re geoglyphs(地画). They' re seen in the desert sands. There are hundreds of them. Some are so large that the best way to see them is from the window ofa plane. That's how thousands of visitors see them each year.
Yet these wonders weren't noticed for nearly 1,500 years. A researcher first found some geoglyphs in Nazca(the Nazca Lines) in 1927. But nearly 150 geoglyphs weren't discovered until many years later. It took technology such as drones(无人机) to find them.
Researchers still have many questions about the geoglyphs. And the answers are unclear. Here's what we do know: The area's pre- Incan Nazca people created the geoglyphs. This was between 500 BCE and 500 CE. How did they make them? By moving away some of the dark rocks that covered the ground. This showed the lighter- colored desert sand below.
Many of the Nazca Lines show the natural world, like animals and plants. And then there are some that aren't from nature. One example was found in 2019. It's of a strange creature(创造物) with many eyes and mouths. Resenrchers say this shows that the Nazca people may have had a taste for the magical.
So why were the geoglyphs created in the first place? Researchers think they may have been part of rituals(仪式) for rain and crops. Certain geoglyphs may have shown where the rituals were being held. Others could have led travelers to those places.
Then again, these are all guesses. Only one thing is clear: The Nazcas found a way to draw lasting lines in the always- changing sands of time.